The Scars Underneath
by under.that.sun
Summary: There's a reason Sanji is always wearing a suit and never undresses more than he needs. That reason? To hide the scars of his past. There was more to his childhood than just being left to starve on a rock. As a kid he was abused by some customers and Zoro just has to walk in the bath while Sanji's undressing. ZoSan, yaoi – manxman.


**A.N. dialacookie asked me to do some angsty romance, I hope this is what you asked for! (The summary is hers :})**

**Warnings: yaoi – manxman, a little bit AU, but the main plot is still in OP universe.**

**Disclaimer: I can write 1001 reasons why I don't own One Piece, I don't think any of you are interested in reading that…**

**Summary: There's a reason Sanji is always wearing a suit and never undresses more than he needs. That reason? To hide the scars of his past. There was more to his childhood than just being left to starve on a rock. As a kid he was abused by some customers and Zoro just has to walk in the bath while Sanji's undressing. ZoSan, yaoi – manxman.**

Baratie was a big restaurant and even Zeff didn't know about all of the things that happened in it. No, it would be more precise to say that Zeff was the person who knew the least about the things happening in his restaurant. Then who knew the most about the stuff that happened in there? Of course that would be Sanji, it's rare for a kid not to know what happens in his home and it just happened that Baratie was Sanji's home.

So it was no surprise that he sneaked around the ship and listened to conversations at every chance he got. But soon after starting he wished he never began doing that…

The floating ship Baratie never stays in one place for long, after all it is a ship, if Zeff didn't want the restaurant to move he would have built it in an island. And some people found that fact very convenient for their affairs. East Blue doesn't have many famous pirates, but it doesn't mean it perfectly peaceful. It has a very successful drug business and Sanji just had bad luck and once stumbled across a deal when he was tailing beautiful women. Those two women were the ones dealing, who could suspect women?

Well not Sani. His bad luck didn't end there though those two women saw him peeking and dragged him in the toilet the deal was made at. They couldn't kill him 'cause that would have raised suspicion immediately, but that didn't mean that they couldn't do at all. They threatened and tortured him. Sanji could protect himself, but he could never hurt a woman, even if she was torturing him, his hart was simply to kind for them.

For the rest of the year while Baratie stayed there the two women came back every week and did their deals and tortured him. Sanji was good at hiding stuff and never shoved that he's hurt, if he ever did looked hurt he would blame the old geezer and his kicks. He never said anything to anyone, though he could, it didn't really mattered if he was tortured or not, he would have said it. But he didn't, 'cause it was women.

All of that led Sanji to one long and painful year during it Sanji received numerous scars all across his body, but in places that didn't show under his clothes. He hides them under his suits, there's a good damn reason he doesn't take them off, he doesn't want anyone to see his scars.

When Sanji joined Strawhats he kept hiding them, if his nakama saw them they would start asking questions Sanji had no wish to answer. During the years the memories of that terrible time became blank and surfaced only occasionally. Sanji would have completely forgotten them, if he didn't saw them every day. Heck, he does forget them while being with his nakama, but every time it's time to go to sleep he remembers them.

These memories were the reason why Sanji only swooned over women, he never asked more and always denied if offered. He made sure that no one ever saw his scars, it was quite easy 'cause he woke up first and went to sleep last. But there is one person aboard the Going Merry who doesn't have stable sleeping time and would wander around the ship lost.

Sanji had no idea what Zoro was thinking most of the time and most of his free time he would spend trying to figure out what was in the green haired man's head. He never could understand that and that led him into being irritated about that bastard. It didn't help at all that while watching the swordsman he started noticing a lot of things. Like how peaceful he looked while sleeping or how determined he was about his dream and training. Or how Zoro will never steal from him if the stocks were low.

What irritated Sanji the most was Zoro's body, it particularly was the reason the blonde started looking at the swordsman in the first place. At first he was a little worried 'cause of the wound Zoro received from Mihawk, who would want to find a dead body on their ship in the morning? When Zoro's wounds healed up Sanji started comparing their bodies. Both of them are fighters that in a fight relies only on their own strength.

There was no use for Sanji to compare himself with the captain or the sharp shooter, the build of those two didn't even matched his. But Zoro, Zoro was a completely different deal. He had a nice set of muscles and showed it around at every chance he got. But after some time Sanji understood that while watching Zoro he doesn't compare them anymore. Instead, he simply watches how the swordsman's muscles move under the skin and how sexy he looks without a shirt.

That's when Sanji really understood his problem, he was interested in the swordsman, well at least Sanji admitted only that much to himself. He didn't care that when the swordsman washed the idhes his kitchen was spotless or that whenever he was feeling like shit Zoro would pick a fight with Sanji on purpose, so that the cook would start feeling better. No, he didn't care about that stuff at all, or that was what he tried to convince himself into believing. That didn't help at all though.

These feelings put Sanji in a difficult spot, he liked the idiot Marimo, but would never voluntarily said that out loud…

Zoro cared for all of his nakama, but one particular person caught his attention more often than others. Zoro wondered if the reason for that was the happy smile Sanji had when someone seriously complimented his food? Maybe how synchronized his legs movements were during a fight? Whatever the reason was Zoro knew that it makes him interested in a cook a little bit more than in others.

That probably was the reason he picked fights with Sanji whenever he saw him feeling down. Zoro wasn't sure of the reason that made him care for the blonde, but he was damn sure that if Sanji ever was in trouble he would be there for him…

Sanji's POV

I looked over the small scars spread all over my chest, I rubbed the healthy skin between two deep scars near my collarbone. I sighed and pulled my pants up; I need to hurry up and start breakfast preparations or else Luffy will start making ruckus. Today I want to make different kind of pie for every crew member. I took hairbrush and started brushing my hair.

*Bam*

The door swung open and I slowly looked at it; please don't be Chopper, please don't be Luffy, please don't be Usopp, please don't be Nami and most of all please don't be Zoro, please let it be the wind…

My eyes met green ones and I felt my body freeze; no, no, no, no! I quickly grabbed a towel and tried to cover myself, but it was too late, Zoro shoved me to the bathtub. His eyes narrowed and he brushed his fingers through one of the longer scars left by scissors. "What is this?"

His voice was cold and emotionless, his eyes radiate danger, I shivered under his gaze and shoved him away. "It's none of your business."

Zoro grabbed my wrists and again shoved me to the bath, only this time he was much closer than before. "It's my damn business, you're my nakama and I believe that it's my right to know why you're so hurt and why no one knows about it?"

I turned my eyes away from his concerned face, I would have shoved him away again, but he was still holding my hands. "It's not your damn business." I parroted him. "And not anyone else at that."

With his free hand Zoro started brushing through my scars gently while he did that he didn't say a single word, I again tried to get free but Zoro's grip only tightened. "Will you stay still? I'm trying to figure out the cause of your scars…"

I froze; he can do that? His finger brushed through the two scars I checked out myself just moments ago. "You didn't do them yourself, it's impossible to make most of them by yourself. They were done by various tools and they weren't meant to kill, only to torture…"

I took a deep shaky breath and finally shoved the swordsman away. "No shit Sherlock, I would have never known, now can you get out, so…"

I couldn't finish 'cause Zoro again caught my hands and kissed the deepest scar in the middle of my stomach. I started to shake; what is he doing? Why is he showing me such kindness to me? Zoro raised his head and looked into my eyes, I could see anger and pain in them; why is he hurt? He released my hands and hugged me. "What the hell happened to you?"

It was a rhetorical question, so I didn't answer, though I wouldn't have answered even if it wasn't. All of my thoughts left my brain 'cause I finally fixed on what Zoro was doing, he was hugging me. The warmth from his body shocked me, he was so warm and so close… I wanted to hug him back, but I stopped myself from doing so; I can't, why is he hugging me at all?

Zoro pulled away and the pain in his eyes got bigger, just seeing it there mad my heart flinch with guilt and hurt; am I the one who's hurting him? I don't want to hurt him, but why is he hurt at all?

Zoro stared into my face intensely and then his expression started to soften, he didn't look hurt anymore, but I could still see pain in his eyes, his expression became more gentle and caring. It's a rare expression and he usually shows it to Chopper; so why is he directing it to me right now? Zoro again approached me, only this time much gentler, he put his hand on my cheek and gently brushed through it. His gentle touch made me flinch; him being rude was better than him being gentle. If Zoro was rude I could simply kick him out and never remember this happening, but if he's going to be gentle I might give in to this feeling my chest is full of…

"It looks like it's still not enough, huh?"

Enough? Enough of what? Zoro put his hands on the back of my head and started slowly dragging my head towards his, I understood what he was trying to do, he gave me a chance to shove him away. But I didn't want it, I wanted to kiss him so badly that I erased all of my reasons why I shouldn't do this and smashed my lips into his.

Zoro immediately pulled me closer to himself and started kissing me gently, he let me have my temp and didn't rush me at all. I opened my mouth a little and let his tongue to slip in, it started slowly exploring my mouth and the moment I felt the need for air it let me go. He pulled away slightly panting, but I pulled him in for another kiss; there's no way I'm letting this end like this!

This time he wasn't so gentle anymore, but I didn't mind, Neanderthals can't be gentle for long can they? Zoro's tongue this time was fierce, it demanded more and I gave it. I tried to fight a little so he wouldn't think that I'm so easily accessible. Not that it really mattered.

He again pulled away but this time I didn't pulled him back, I rest my head against his chest and sighed. "Umm, so the breakfast will be late?"

My and Zoro's heads turned quickly to the door that was still open, Usopp was standing there, his cheeks were bright red. "Uhh, I should probably keep my mouth shut?"

Zoro groaned and looked down at me, he raised his eyebrow. "It doesn't really matter, he can't keep a secret, Nami will notice that he's hiding something and will make him talk."

The green haired man chuckled and pressed me closer to himself. "Go, breakfast will be a little late."

Usopp nodded and quickly ran away. "He couldn't see my scars, right?"

Zoro shook his head. "You were pressed to me all the time." He kissed my forehead. "I will do my best to keep it a secret, but you will have to tell me about it, so I can make sure that it never happens again."

I felt blood rush to my cheeks; this bastard, being so nice and caring. "I will think about it."

Zoro sighed and let go of me, he took my shirt and threw it at me. "Let's go cook, or someone else will stumble across us."

I caught the shirt and started dressing up. "Why did you got in here in the first place?"

A little blush appeared on Zoro's cheeks. "I thought that some locked the bunk room door."

I put on my jacket. "Why would anyone lock the bunk room door?"

Zoro shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? You never know what can shoot into people minds…"

I walked out of the bathroom. "You're right, only Marimo like you would think of something like that."

"Don't start it curly brow."

"Don't start what?"

**A.N. I know it was supposed to be angsty, but I'm not the kind of person who's good at writing it… So I hope everyone likes this! :} (Don't forget that everyone loves reviews, I'm not an exception!)**


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